Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (most often referred to as simply Saddam Hussein) (April 28, 1937 – December 30, 2006) was the Sunni President of Iraq from July 16, 1979[1] to December 14, 2003.[2] Hussein was a Socialist, following other modern Socialist movements and the Nasser model.

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Iran-Iraq War

During the 1980s, during the Iran-Iraq War, the United States considered Hussein to be a friend and assisted him with loans[3] up until the time of the Iranian initiative under President Ronald Reagan when U.S. policy shifted. Fearing the threat to Iraq's neighbors, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Gulf States if a militarized Iraq under Hussein emerged from the war intact, the U.S. through intermediaries began selling TOW missiles to Iran in what has come to be known as the Iran/Contra affair, to break the deadlock and tip the balance in favor Iran.

On March the 16th 1988 Hussein used Sulfur mustard, Sarin and VX to kill his own kurdish citizens.

War on Terror

In 2003 a "coalition of the willing" invaded Iraq to force a change of regime from Hussein's Ba'athist party to a constitutional liberal democracy. A further aim was to break the alliance between al Qaeda and Hussein, though this link has never been proven.[4]

Trial and Execution

Saddam Hussein after his capture, December 2003

Captured by U.S. forces on December 13, 2003, Hussein was brought to trial under the Iraqi interim government set up by U.S.-led forces. On November 5, 2006, a tribunal found him and 6 other co-defendants guilty of charges related to the executions of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites suspected of planning an assassination attempt against him. He was consequently sentenced to death by hanging. Following the sentence being affirmed on appeal, he was executed on December 30, 2006.